


The Candy Man

by chucks_prophet



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Candy Shop, Candy, Candy references, Dean runs a candy shop, First Meetings, Flirty Castiel, Fluff, Humor, M/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Resolutions, Shy Dean, So obviously lots of fluff happening in this one, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 23:06:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9039401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chucks_prophet/pseuds/chucks_prophet
Summary: Most people would think spending your New Year’s Eve surrounded by an assortment of chocolate and candy is a sad state of affairs.Dean is not most people. But then again, most people don’t own a candy store.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I had to throw in a sense8 s/o because I binged the Christmas special the day it came out and have no regrets (until May, probably, when I go through season 2 just as quick :P).
> 
> Merry Christmas Eve/Christmas (depending where you are) everyone! If you don’t celebrate, happy early 2017! 
> 
> Sorry if the spacing looks awkward! I tried my best to fix it. D:

Most people would think spending your New Year’s Eve surrounded by an assortment of chocolate and candy is a sad state of affairs.

Dean is not most people. But then again, most people don’t own a candy store.

Candy has been Dean’s life since before he met the height requirement for most rides at the local amusement park—since he could first get his hands on oven mitts only to learn he can’t bake anything that comes in a box (luckily, that’s what he pays his best friend Benny for during the weekdays), and decided becoming Willy Wonka was the next best thing.

Dean’s restocking the jumbo Hershey’s bars when the bell above the door tolls, signaling a customer. Dean turns his head and meets a man whose eyes put the blue pigment in Jolly Ranchers. They even crinkle around the wrapper, his eyelids, which push his eyebrows up. As he steps closer, Dean can see his lips like fresh bubblegum stretching across his face.

“Hi, could you point me in the direction of the Sugar Daddy’s?” Jolly Blue implores after sauntering up to Dean, and wow, that voice is raspy _and_ deep.

“You and me both pal,” Dean replies, managing a light-hearted chuckle for someone who’s probably the most gorgeous man Dean’s ever feasted his eyes upon. He points to his left. “Straight back, past the taffy.”

Jolly Blue nods with what Dean detects as a hint of nervousness—or maybe it’s what Dean would _like_ to believe, granted he’s trying not to stare: the Sugar Daddy’s are in a carton on the very bottom shelf. “I-uh, anything else I can help you with?”

Luckily, Jolly Blue is up before Dean can say “Center of the Tootsie Pop”, and back with the same, genial smile: “I think that’ll do. Thank you.”

Dean rounds the counter to help him check out.

"We're especially busy this time of year,” Dean says as almost an afterthought, handing Jolly Blue his change back, when, really, it’s just a flimsy piece of dialogue to get him to stay longer.

The guy glances between the entrance with the gumball machine that, judging by the smudge marks, has had too many eager faces reflect in its crystal ball, to the shelves of chocolate surrounding him, and back to Dean, where a full stock of caramel-glazed apples sit in glass panels that typically have customers eyeing it like the poison fruit Snow White should've been more wary of. Of course, that's _before_ the endless free samples of the caramel Benny makes fresh himself.

"Really?” says Jolly Blue, "You'd think people are cramming calories before the clock strikes 12."

"C'mon, you really think people’ll start hitting the gym?"

"Maybe for the buffet."

  
"There's a _buffet_ in the gym?” Dean scoffs. “Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of a gym?"

  
"They think it's incentive to get more memberships."

  
"Does that really work?"

  
"I’m in no place to argue, since I bought one.”

  
Dean nods. “So it's good food then?"

  
Jolly Blue’s face twists. "Tastes like sweat, more or less.”

  
"That’s appropriate. So why did you buy a membership?”

  
"Are you kidding?” Jolly Blue comments, “It's the quietest place I've been to in years."

  
Dean laughs as he extends his hand over the counter, "Touché. I'm Dean."

  
"Cas," the Jolly Blue replies. He has soft hands, unlike Dean's, which callous easy from fixing his adoptive Uncle's '71 Chevelle. His family practically nags him to sell the space he’s renting and invest in becoming a mechanic, but, while there’s satisfaction from fixing something, it’s nothing compared to the kids that come busting through the shop door to get a head start on Halloween.

Sure, it’ll likely be Dean’s fault that their teeth turn into candy corn when they’re twenty, but he can’t deny them. In a way, they remind him of his little brother, Sam, who he raised single-handedly since he was five. After their mom’s untimely death when he was shy of seven months old, and their father’s swift desertion, Sam never had much of a childhood, so Dean took it upon himself to spoil him. (He later took blame for the array of… unique sweets piled on their motel table each holiday, crafted by him and Sully, his imaginary friend at the time.)

As cheesy as it sounds, so long as he can honor his late mother, by doing what she unfailingly made Dean do when he was a kid looking at the world through a two-holed kaleidoscope with her baking—which is bring a smile to people’s faces—he’s happy.

“What about you, Dean?"

Dean leans over the counter, exposing as much bulk in his arms as he can (being a part-time mechanic _does_ pay off) with a curious expression. "What about me?"

"Do you have a New Year's Resolution?"

Dean smiles shyly. "No. I'm not the type of person to make promises I can't keep."

Cas laughs, "Yeah. I get that. I said I would watch how much I spend this year.”

 “What happened?”

“I bought four birds, five guinea pigs, a dog, and two cats,” Cas says, scratching the back of his neck while biting his lip as if he said a bad word. “I’m also currently pending adoption on a rabbit.”

 Dean’s mouth opens, and then closes a couple times before he nods with a small smile. “Okay.”

 “Yeah, I kinda love animals.”

 “Clearly,” Dean laughs.

 Cas smiles. “I appreciate the underreaction. My boyfriend flipped when I adopted my last cat.”

 “What did you do?” Dean asks, trying to ignore the fact that Cas just mentioned a boyfriend, meaning Dean’s about to hit a home-run, because Cas swings for his team. Granted, with another man, but—

 “I made him an ex,” Cas replies, grinning widely. _Oh._ “I’d rather pick up what a dozen animals are putting down than have to hear him one more time.”

Dean returns the expression. “Good for you.”

 “Yeah.”

 Instead of doing the most suitable thing, like _asking him out already,_ what comes out of Dean’s mouth after a long nod is, “Sorry if I’m keeping you, you probably have big plans tonight. Everyone does.”

 “Yeah,” Cas replies, holding up the small bag, “me and my Sugar Daddies are gonna get crazy.”

 Dean scoffs, “Seriously? A handsome guy like you is gonna stay back at a time like tonight?”

“Depends,” Cas says, leaning forward on the counter as a smile crosses his face again. He smells like peppermint and aftershave—that is, until he reaches into his bag, takes out a sucker, removes the yellow wrapping, and places the candy into his mouth. He lets it marinade on his tongue for a moment, then pulls it out, which is when he smells like _caramel_ and aftershave: “What’re you doing tonight?”

Dean gulps. “N-nothing. I mean, not that I have _absolutely_ nothing, I have _sense8_ on my queue—”

Cas interrupts with his lips that span so wide, a smile that's gummier than anything inside a lollipop unveils as he draws his physical sucker back into his mouth and pulls off the counter: “ _Sweet._ It’s a date then.”

 

 

 

 _Sweet, indeed_ , Dean thinks, sitting on Cas’s couch as the clock above them strikes twelve, trying to describe the taste of Cas’s lips.


End file.
